Smylie Kaufman Joins to Talk Latest News in World of Golf
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00:00There is Miley Kaufman, of course, is with us here on C2C Catch a Smiley Show right here
00:08on SportsGrid. And Smiley, good to see you again, my man. And I think we have to start
00:13there as Farroh was just saying, you did a great job out there. I want you to tell me
00:18which day was the worst. Let's be fair. Sunday clearly was the nicest day out of the four.
00:27Was it Friday or was it Saturday where you were standing out there and you're just like,
00:31man, I can't wait to get into clubhouse. Which day was it, Friday or Saturday?
00:35Listen, everybody knows they're hardcore golfers at their country clubs and the guys that'll
00:41be out there in the 40 degrees and playing in the rain. I'm telling you, even those guys
00:46wouldn't have wanted to play on Saturday. That's how bad Saturday really was. For me
00:52being out there, it was raining start to finish. It was blowing. Gosh, it got on the
00:57back and I probably blow in a really stiff, consistent 20 miles an hour, which is just
01:04insane how with the temperature and the rain, visibility was low and it was and it was cold
01:10on top of that. So Saturday, a thousand percent, those leaders like Shane Lowry starting the
01:17day with a three or four shot lead. I think it was, it was, it was just really difficult
01:22to to make pars. It was like six par fives. It felt like on the backside.
01:27And that had to probably make it even more fun for you because I believe on Saturday,
01:32the worst day is when you had Rose and Horshall that you were following around. So to be with
01:38two grizzled veterans of the PGA tour and of golf and of major championships and playing
01:45all these and watching them play in those conditions, Horshall throwing the hat backwards
01:50on a couple of those holes like that, I thought that you did have the fun. You listen to everybody
01:55was having a tough time out there, but the interesting and fun group to follow on Saturday
01:59was Rose and Horshall. Yeah, I didn't expect to go into into the
02:03day. Right. I mean it just felt like, you know, especially the coverage over on that
02:10side of the pond typically really lends itself to the Europeans. And, you know, I got Billy
02:15Horshall, Justin Rose, who, you know, is in the part of his career, I think would be on
02:20the backside of it, but at the golf that these two guys played insane. Justin Rose felt like
02:28every single shot that he hit that day, just, he wasn't going to hit a shot until he was
02:33ready. It just showed the commitment, the dedication and just how meticulous he was
02:39in his process to make sure he wasn't pulling the trigger until he was ready. And Billy
02:43Horshall, just my goodness, it was so fun to watch a guy like Billy, who, you know,
02:48he has not had the major career that I wish he that he wish he probably did have, you
02:54know, really, I don't think any top tens heading into the Open Championship where he ended
02:59up finishing in the top three. So a huge week for Billy. I think it proved a lot to himself
03:04that he's, you know, capable to win a major championship, even at this part of his career.
03:11We're talking with Smiley Kaufman. Of course, you can catch the Smiley Show right here on
03:14SportsGrid a couple times a week. Great stuff, as always. Smiley, the beginning of this year,
03:21we talked, everybody talked about Xander Schauffele. And is he finally going to win a major? Is
03:26he finally going to win big ones? And he ended that. He not only wins one, Smiley, but now
03:31having two in the same year, some rarefied names that he is with in that club of two
03:37majors in the same year. Your thoughts on Xander's performance this past weekend at
03:41Royal Troop? You know, it's what really good players do. The elite players, which is having
03:49the ability on a week in which the weather was a story. Thursday, Friday, the wind blowing
03:57like crazy. He was in, I would say, the draw that was not the easier of the draws. But
04:02still, he was able to just to hang around, hang around. And he knows exactly what a good
04:08score was that day. Never got too out of touch of the leaders and was able to then have a
04:13Sunday where the weather finally turned, like you mentioned, Mike, where he had an opportunity
04:18to hit some shots, make some putts. And for a while on Sunday, it felt like we didn't
04:23know who was going to win. It was like the whole week you felt like, oh, it's gonna be
04:27Shane Lowry's event. You know, it just kept rotating guys. And then all of a sudden it's
04:31like, oh, Xander Shafley is going to win. Oh, and by the way, it's over. That's how
04:35quickly it felt like it was for Xander Shafley. It felt like Smiley. The turning point was
04:41when he hit that, that ball out of the deep stuff on 11, right? Like when he was off to
04:46the left on that had to be where you thought Xander is going to win when he put that stuck
04:51that on the flag from that deep stuff. Yep, 100%. That's a great call because 11th hole
04:56was the story of the week. All you know, even going into it, we know exactly what that 11th
05:01hole is going to be. And then we had the perfect weather for it for viewers and for commentators,
05:06not not necessarily for players, because it was wreaking havoc all week. And he was able
05:11to pull a wedge from 173, stick it, make birdie, then goes on to win. But to answer your original
05:16question about Xander and two majors, he's in rarefied air. I mean, he's a player that we've
05:22been waiting for the breakout. And you know, we always seem to say, and whether it's golf or other
05:26sports, that they just need to win one, and then the floodgates will open. And most of the time,
05:32it never happens like that when and then the floodgates actually open. It actually feels like
05:37that's the case with Xander Shafley. It feels like the floodgates are open when his stuff is on,
05:43which, by the way, he's always on, he always makes cuts, he's always in the top 20. So for a player
05:50that knows how to hang around and be inside the top 10, it's scary now that now he knows how to
05:55win. So he's he's getting better and better each year, his speed is up, his ability to be pretty
06:02much elite across the board is you could put a gun against anybody. I'm taking Xander Shafley
06:08over everybody, even Scotty Shafler, because Xander is a much, much better putter, I feel like
06:13than Scotty, or at least a more consistent one. And I think that's going to be the talk now,
06:17right, Smiley, as we get towards the end of the year. Now, we still have a couple, you know,
06:2110 flag events to go here. We got the gold medal next week in France, we have the FedEx Cup
06:25Championship, when we get through the playoffs, but two majors for Xander, six wins and a major
06:31for Scotty, including a bunch of big elevated events, your player of the year right now,
06:36who is it? You know what, I think it's going to come down to a tour championship. And if you had
06:41told me coming into the year, that that it was going to be anybody other than Scotty, I would
06:46tell you you're crazy. But you know, when you win two major championships, that too, I think a lot
06:52of the players is going to be a huge difference because two majors in one year is, like I said,
06:59just a moment ago, it's rarefied air. So you got to see how Xander finishes the year off. Let's see
07:03what happens in the playoffs, who of the two maybe wins a gold medal. But if Xander wins a
07:08gold medal or Scotty wins one, I think that could maybe change the conversation a bit.